Pilgrims Go Across the Sea

The Mayflower

Pilgrims Go Across the Sea

The Speedwell and the Mayflower were no ordinary ships – they carried a group of religious refugees, making a bid to create their perfect community in the New World.

The group of 120 men and women, who would later become known as the Pilgrim Fathers, had endured prejudice and persecution in Britain for years. They had decided the best chance to preserve their community was a dangerous journey across the sea. The group were risking everything but were strong in faith.

Despite what many books will tell you, the group were NOT Puritans: they would have called themselves “Separatists”. The word ‘Puritan’ had been first used in the 1560s to describe (negatively) a group of religious zealots. By and large those we now see as ‘Puritans’ would never have described themselves as such, and most wanted to stay within the Church of England.

Not so those who were aboard the Speedwell and the Mayflower.

The journey to America was so perilous and life on board so hard, it’s difficult to imagine what it must have been like to embark on such a voyage. They spent more than 60 days in dangerous seas with a high risk of contracting disease or simply disappearing under the waves in stormy weather.

To go was often a one-way ticket, almost akin to travelling to live on Mars today.

It took courage to get on those ships. So who were these ‘Separatists’?

The group had its origins in the village of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire. They began by worshipping secretly in the country home of one William Brewster. They rejected many of the teachings of all the established religious groups and elected their church leaders democratically. They were a group of intelligent, strong and fiercely independent people who simply wanted to be allowed to worship in the way they wished.

This was not a time of tolerance and they found themselves attacked from every side.

Being most closely linked to the strict Calvinists - followers of French Theologian John Calvin – the group joined the burgeoning Calvinist community in Leiden in the Netherlands.

But tough conditions economically and a fear that the group was losing its identity, inspired a plan to found a new community overseas where there was less chance of interference and persecution.

A few backers with funds offered support to a small group to establish a new base overseas. They considered Guiana, where there was already a Dutch colony, but eventually settled on America.

However, this was not a simple case of getting supplies, buying a boat and setting sail. The British Crown had already claimed the majority of the Eastern coast of America, so the group had to negotiate a contract to take some of it into their control.

This was made more difficult when William Brewster was implicated in cases of religious dissent in Scotland. Pamphlets he had printed in Leiden were one of the causes of his troubles and a warrant was duly issued for his arrest. He avoided incarceration but one of the trip’s financers was arrested and imprisoned for 14 years.

Despite these problems a contract for land in New England was secured and the group used precious funds to buy a ship, originally known as the Swiftsure, now renamed the Speedwell. The ship had been built more than 40 years previously, when most vessels were deemed too old for service after 25. It had an eventful past too as it was part of the fleet that saw off the Spanish Armada in 1588.

The fact the group chose to purchase this boat is a good indication of how poorly backed their venture was. It’s like a company wanting to run an air courier business buying a former BOAC Comet today. Not only was there a lack of funds but the vessel, at the very least, had some obvious safety issues.

They charted another ship, the Mayflower to take the majority of the passengers. The group planned to use the Speedwell as a fishing vessel once in the New World. The company assembled in Southampton ahead of the voyage in September 1620.

But almost as soon as they set off, the Speedwell began to take on water.

The company put in to Dartmouth for repairs – and tied up at Bayards Cove.

The harbour was renowned for its shipwrights, so it was probably deemed the best place to stop. The whole ship was checked and nothing untoward found – so it was ‘resealed’ with pitch and sent on its way.

That didn’t do the trick, and it continued to take on water. The company stopped again at Plymouth, offloaded the Speedwell, took some of its passengers, crew and provisions on board the Mayflower and set off again on what was to become its historic journey from the Mayflower Steps. There were rumours that the sailors on the Speedwell had sabotaged the ship so they could break their year long contract. Recent studies, however, suggest something different putting the blame how the ship was rigged when in Holland.

The ship, it is thought, had masts that were too big for the size of boat – when under sail, it’s timbers were under too much strain, causing them to bow and let in water.

66 days after leaving Plymouth, the Mayflower landed north of its original target, the Hudson River, at Cape Cod. Storms stopped the group from going south so they decided to settle there.

Interestingly, the place the group landed and made their home had already been named Plymouth six years earlier. It had been so by the adventurer John Smith, who would become famous for his involvement in the story of Pocahontas. So the group left from Plymouth and landed, completely by chance, in Plymouth. Strange but true.

More than half their number died during their hard first winter but with the help of an Indian named Squanto, they began to learn how to survive the harsh environment and slowly built a sustainable colony. It was one of the first such colonies in the New World, and it became the stuff of legend, a key component in the story of the USA.

Dartmouth may have only had a fleeting association with the group of determined and brave religious refugees but it left an indelible mark. The town receives thousands of visitors each year interested in tracking the journey of this brave band of persecuted men and women. •